History History

Excavations in Katanga and Kivu have revealed that the Congolese territory was inhabited 200,000 BC at the latest. This was probably due to the drying out of the Sahelian zone and intense demographic pressure from populations, particularly from Nigeria, who migrated southwards. Before reaching Congolese soil, these migrants would have split into two branches, the Western Bantu and the Eastern Bantu.

From 3,000 B.C. onwards, hunter-gatherers making tools of the Late Stone Age came into contact with the first villagers on the Congo tributaries. In Kivu, an early Iron Age is attested from 2,600 B.C. at the earliest. Katanga developed iron from 1,400 years ago. At the very beginning of our era, forging techniques were widespread in ancient Congo. By the end of the first millennium, the entire Congolese territory had been occupied.

More structured systems of social organization were formed at this time. These included the Kongo Kingdom, the Luba Empire, the Kuba Empire and the Lunda Empire. These socio-political structures reached their apogee in the first centuries of the second millennium. They came into contact with the outside world towards the end of the ^15th century, with the arrival of the Portuguese. From that time onwards, these kingdoms were to break up under the impetus of the slave trade and the emergence of new power relations that led to colonization.

It was during a second expedition in 1485 that he came into contact with the inhabitants of the Kongo Kingdom. During these visits, King Nzinga Nkuwu made contact with the Portuguese and Spanish rulers, as well as Pope Innocent VIII. Treaties were signed to allow the Portuguese to settle first on the coast, then deeper inland. Around 1491, the Kongo king Funsu Nzinga Mbemba, renamed Alfonso ^I, converted to Catholicism. However, wars soon broke out over the Portuguese covetousness of the mines. Meanwhile, the black slave trade to Brazil became the main economic activity on the coast.

Although this trade came to a halt on the Atlantic in the ^19th century, it continued inland with raids for slaves and ivory by Arab-Swahili traders, including the famous Tippo-Tip from Zanzibar. It was at this time that the French and Belgians began colonizing this part of Africa, encountering resistance from the Kongo. Towards the middle of the ^19th century, these explorations took on a more systematic and ambitious character.

Upon his accession to the throne in 1865, Leopold II set himself the ambition of endowing the young kingdom of Belgium with a colony. Following a geography conference on Africa, he founded the Association Internationale Africaine (AIA) in Brussels in 1876. Leopold II then hired the British journalist and explorer Henry Morton Stanley, already famous for having found Dr. Livingstone on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in 1873, and for having traveled the continent from east to west. Mandated by Leopold II, Stanley set out again to explore the Congo, concluding treaties with native chiefs and setting up several stations on behalf of the monarch, thus laying the foundations for Belgian occupation of the Congo.

The "division of the African cake" was settled between the various European powers at the Berlin Conference, which began in 1884. The existence of the Independent State of the Congo (EIC) was officially recognized as the personal property of Leopold II (who never visited the Congo). On July¹, 1885, the "sky blue with gold stars" flag of the new state flew in Vivi, the first capital. Between 1885 and 1894, the borders of the EIC were consolidated by agreements with the neighbouring colonial powers, by battles waged against the Mahdists of Sudan in the north-east of the country, and against the Arabs in the east ("anti-slavery campaigns"). The death of King M'Siri in December 1891 also marked the end of all resistance to the occupation of Katanga. Once control of the territory had been achieved, intensive exploitation could begin (ivory and rubber) via concessionary companies.

On October 18, 1908, Leopold II, short of resources and under fire from critics (following the controversy surrounding the famous severed hands and forced labor of the indigenous populations), was forced to bequeath the EIC to Belgium. The country thus became the Belgian Congo, an integral part of the Kingdom of Belgium. The situation of the population gradually improved. Although, as elsewhere, the colonial system was based on a hierarchical, paternalistic principle, and amounted to de facto apartheid. This led to the consolidation of a three-pillar colonial structure: the Belgian state, which was responsible for administering the colony, maintaining order and developing infrastructure; the Church, which took on a "civilizing" mission, notably through education and health care; and Capital, notably via Société Générale, which supported the colony's economic development.

Congolese Force Publique troops fought on many fronts in the name of the mother country during both world wars. In 40-45, the Belgian Congo made a major contribution to the war effort alongside the Allies, in particular by stepping up the production of raw materials (rubber, uranium used for the atomic bomb...). The immense war effort required of the Congolese eventually made them realize that they too had rights to assert. After 1945, the decolonization movement began to take shape.

The Abako (Joseph Kasa-Vubu) and Mouvement National Congolais (Patrice Lumumba) political parties were created in the 50s. On his return from the Pan-African Conference in Accra in August 1958, Patrice Lumumba channeled the crowds that gathered at the call of the MNC. On January 4, 1959, a rally planned by the Abako was banned. The crowd protested, the Force Publique retaliated and a vast popular riot began. It took the authorities six days to regain control of Leopoldville. Several deaths and injuries were reported. On December 13, 1959, the Belgian government announces the holding of a "round table" in Brussels to negotiate the terms of independence.

On January 20, 1960, the Round Table for the Independence of the Congo opened in Brussels. From the outset, the Congolese speakers took the Belgians by surprise by insisting on setting the date of independence at June 30. This political round table was followed shortly afterwards by a second economic round table, at which the constitution governing the independent Congo and the structural organization of the future state were adopted, both modelled on the Belgian model. The time had come for Belgium to "hand over the keys of the Congo house to the Congolese". This will be done in the space of a few months, with a certain amount of confusion and haste.

Shortly after the first legislative elections in May 1960, King Baudouin proclaimed the country's independence, which became the Republic of Congo, in Leopoldville on June 30, in the presence of Joseph Kasa-Vubu, elected President, and Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister. Lumumba's unexpected and famous speech, denouncing the ill-treatment of the Congolese under colonial rule, provoked Belgian anger. Five days later, soldiers of the new Congolese army mutinied, following opposition from Belgian officers to the Africanization of the army.

On July 11, 1960, the rich mining province of Katanga seceded, with the support of Western and Belgian financial groups, plunging the new Congolese state, weakened by power struggles between political leaders, into chaos. Moïse Tshombe proclaimed himself President of the State of Katanga. And Albert Kalonji called himself "Emperor" (Mulopwe) of Kasai. Meanwhile, in Leopoldville and other towns, it was a debacle. Numerous massacres of Congolese and Belgian civilians were deplored. Lumumba and Kasa-Vubu called on the United Nations to take action against "external aggression" by sending in blue helmets, and to remove Belgian troops from Katanga.

Kasa-Vubu and Lumumba deposed each other in September 1960 - with the support of the West, which saw in Lumumba a presumed communist to be neutralized - through the intervention of Colonel Joseph Mobutu. Lumumba was placed under house arrest, but managed to escape on the night of November 27, 1960, and attempted to reach Stanleyville by road. On December 2, the army arrested him in Kasai. Taken back to Leopoldville, he was then tortured in the Thysville military camp, along with his fellow prisoners Okito and Mpolo. They were then sent to Katanga on January 17, 1961, where they were shot and their bodies dissolved in acid, following Belgian and American injunctions. The myth of the martyred Lumumba, pan-Africanist national hero, was born.

Less than five years after independence, the Congo was considered to be the cancer that Africa was suffering from. Secessions and rebellions (mulélistes, Simba...) broke out all over the country, with serious political tensions at the head of state, where prime ministers and governments followed one another. Under the investiture of Moïse Tshombe, the so-called Luluabourg Constitution was adopted by referendum on August¹, 1964. From then on, the country was known as the Democratic Republic of Congo. The territory is subdivided into 21 provinces.

Once again, however, the governing bodies were neutralized and the country descended into political anarchy. At the instigation of Colonel Mobutu, the military high command seized power on the night of November 24, 1965 and overthrew the government, with the blessing of the Western powers. Mobutu suspended the constitution and banned political parties. On May 22, 1966, he granted himself full powers. A new constitution was adopted in 1967. The Second Republic was born. Mobutu established an authoritarian presidential regime based on a system of corruption, accountability and sycophancy among his loyal followers and courtiers in government, industry and the army, which lasted until his downfall in 1997.

All the spending sprees under Mobutu took place at this time, thanks to very high commodity prices. President Mobutu set up the political bureau of the Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution (MPR), which he institutionalized within the state apparatus. In October 1971, the country became the Republic of Zaire as part of the "recourse to authenticity". The name of the river, the flag and the national anthem also changed. In 1973, Zairianization measures dispossessed foreign landowners and traders of their property and activities, in favor of nationals close to the government. The country's economy thus began its slow decline... Following the two wars in Shaba (Katanga) in 77 and 78 (when 170 Westerners were massacred in Kolwezi, prompting the intervention of French and Belgian paratroopers), a process of state reform provided on paper for the liberalization of the political system. In practice, however, Mobutu continued to assert his autocratic power.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 changed the geopolitical dynamics of the time. Under popular pressure, President Mobutu announced the end of the Second Republic and decreed a process of democratization of institutions. A long, bloody transition period began with the massacre at the University of Lubumbashi on May 11, 1990. The Conférence Nationale Souveraine, intended to define the country's major political and economic orientations, opened on August 7, 1991 at the Palais du Peuple in Kinshasa. At the same time, in September 1991, the country experienced an unprecedented wave of violence and looting, following the total deterioration in the population's living conditions. The "Christian March" was bloodily repressed in Kinshasa on February 16, 1992.

On August 4, 1992, the National Conference - suspended for a time, then reopened - adopted a draft new constitution which provided for a transitional period to set up new democratic institutions. On August 15, Etienne Tshisekedi was reappointed Prime Minister. At the end of January 1993, a new wave of bloody looting hit the country. Thousands of foreigners were evacuated. In March 1993, Mobutu dismisses Etienne Tshisekedi. The transition failed, and the country sank into internal power struggles. Mobutu, politically and physically weakened by cancer, exiled himself to his residence in Gbabolite in the north of the country, where he exercised only functional power. April 1994 saw the start of the Rwandan genocide, which was to have a lasting impact on the future of neighboring Congo.

Unrest broke out in the east, following the invasion of the country by thousands of Rwandan refugees (including former genocidaires). This triggered the First Congo War, following aggression from Rwanda and Uganda by "Congolese Tutsi" rebels and numerous armed groups to "liberate" the country. Among other strategic objectives linked to Zaire's resources, and the outright elimination of Hutu refugees from Zaire. As the fighting progressed, Mobutu's troops abandoned the field. The maquis and long-time opponent Laurent-Désiré Kabila emerged as leader of the Alliance des Forces Démocratiques de Libération camp, a military coalition backed by the invading countries and Western chancelleries. On May 17, 1997, AFDL troops made their triumphant entry into Kinshasa. Mobutu's regime fell. The old Marshal was hastily exiled to Morocco, where he died of cancer on September 7, 1997.

The "Mzée" ("wise man") L-D Kabila proclaimed himself President of the Republic, and arrived at the head of a totally destroyed country. On this occasion, the country reverts to its original name of Democratic Republic of Congo, its former flag and national anthem. But despite promises and hopes, Kabila Père's regime quickly drifted towards autocracy. In May 1998, L-D Kabila dismissed his former Rwandan and Ugandan allies. This marked the start of the^2nd Congo War, which officially lasted until 2003 (followed by the war in Kivu). The entire sub-region was set ablaze, with the involvement of six African countries and some thirty armed groups, resulting in the deaths of millions of people. It was against this backdrop, and under pressure from the international community, that Kabila Père agreed to sign ceasefire agreements in Lusaka, Zambia, on August 31, 1999. The MONUC (United Nations Observer Mission in the Congo), tasked with consolidating the peace process in the DRC, was set up on this occasion.

In the meantime, President Laurent-Désiré Kabila was assassinated on January 16, 2001 by one of his young bodyguards, whose motives and sponsors were unclear at best. He was replaced by his son Joseph Kabila, then aged 30, who found himself at the head of a nation in the throes of civil war. Once in power, Joseph Kabila relaunched the negotiation process initiated in Lusaka, culminating in the ill-named "Inter-Congolese Dialogue" in Sun City, South Africa. In December 2002, the Pretoria Agreement provided for the establishment of the new "1+4" transition: a President of the Republic with 4 Vice-Presidents representing the belligerent and political components. The government was appointed on June 30, 2003, officially marking the end of the war and the departure of foreign troops from the country. The constitution of the Third Republic was adopted by popular referendum on December 18, 2005.

The new constitution paved the way for legislative and presidential elections in July and October 2006. Considered the first free elections in 30 years, they confirmed the victory of Joseph Kabila and his political family, the PPRD. Violent riots ensued in Kinshasa, pitting supporters of unsuccessful MLC candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba against Kabila supporters. This first legislature - which on paper marked the end of the war of aggression in Kivu with the arrest of rebel leader Laurent Nkunda - came to an end in November 2011, when new elections were held. At the end of this single-round presidential election, Joseph Kabila was re-elected for a second and, in theory, final five-year term, against the old dinosaur Etienne Tshisekedi and his UDPS party, who widely condemned the electoral process as marred by irregularities.

At the end of a prolonged and turbulent second term - with instability in the East and numerous demonstrations (bloodily quelled) demanding respect for the Constitution and the departure of Joseph Kabila - the legislative and presidential elections finally took place on December 30, 2018, in an atmosphere of end of reign chaos. The surprise - and disputed - victory of "opposition" candidate Felix Tshisekedi, the son of the famous opponent to Mobutu and Kabila, is proclaimed on January 24, 2019, following a legal battle with the other opposition candidate Martin Fayulu, who claims to have won the presidential election. The arrival at the head of state of new president Tshisekedi and the UDPS (initially in coalition with Kabila's PPRD), nevertheless marks the DRC's entry into a new political era, after Joseph Kabila's eighteen years in power. In the "first peaceful transition of power" in the history of the Congo. And for a mandate theoretically lasting until the end of 2023, the date announced for elections.

The so-called March 23 Movement, the M23, defeated following a ceasefire at the end of 2013, has redeployed from Rwanda to Congolese soil in November 2021. Subsequent clashes with the Congolese army have already resulted in thousands of deaths and over a million displaced persons in the province of North Kivu. History seems to be repeating itself, with regional troops so far unable to halt the advance of this rebel force and stop the fighting. Since the end of 2017, the neighboring northern province of Ituri has also seen a resumption of conflict between new factions from the Hema and Lendu communities, who had already laid waste to the region between 1999 and 2004. Another rebel group, the ADF from Uganda, said to be affiliated with the Islamic State organization, also continues to sow terror in Ituri and North Kivu. South Kivu and northern Katanga are not to be outdone in terms of instability and armed groups... All against a backdrop of plundering of Congolese resources, which fuel these conflicts and have always been crucial global issues, determining the future of the country and its inhabitants. And, more than ever, they jeopardize lasting peace in the region.